Credits

Thursday

We don't wean, really, from anything. We move onto phase two with reckless abandon. We quittem cold turkey.

I didn't realize this until tonight, when I was sitting on the recliner drinking my coffee getting ready to motivate myself for a three mile run at 8:30 at night, when my son wakes up, opens his door and yells, "Potty!"

We're potty training here. We have days when it goes spectacular. Then we have days where I think we're so not ready, because I am picking poop up off the floor.

Goes with the territory I guess.

Anyway, there I was, beaming with pride at the fact that he actually let me know beforehand that potty was imminent and I lurch up and run excitedly and whisk him onto the potty (he did miss, but to his credit he did a little peepee in the potty anyway, and also he told me he had to go and these are all little victories in the long journey that is potty training.)

Back to the original story of cold turkey.

I decided one day that we were ready for potty training. I decided that he could walk and he could talk and that we were going to do this because I know he's completely capable, and using the potty should be like using a fork or brushing your teeth, it's just something you do. Plus, all of this asking-if-he-wants-to-use-the-potty like my pediatrician suggested was never really working, neither was the tiny singing potty, or the reward stickers and chart. We have been trying everything, but if given the choice, he will have me wipe his bottom til he graduates high school. I've heard, "No! Mommy wipe my butt!" a few more times than I would like, so in resorting back to the family roots that are the "cold turkey" way, we just stopped using diapers last week.

And for some reason, he's done really really well with it. I mean, there are accidents, in fact we're barely at a 50% success rate of keeping undies dry and at a 1% success rate with poo (we had one today!), but everyone (his teachers included) say poo is the last thing they do anyway...

But today he spent the entire afternoon including naps, dry, and then he told me he had to go late at night, so we're getting there! There are accidents, but within those accidents are victories (cup half full girl!) so after a week, that ain't bad! I think cold turkey works for him because I think that in general, we're a cold turkey family.

My husband ran that 10k with me as I mentioned. He hadn't run a single mile the entire 12 weeks I trained feverishly for it. And even though he walked a little, he made it across the finish right along with me. He ran that thing cold turkey. I was simultaneously pissed off and impressed. I mean, to be at a standard level of fitness that you can just not run at all but one day run 6 miles as if out of nowhere... there's something to be said about that. But I guess I should just cross that one off my list because that ain't ever gonna be me and envy is a sin, so I shall purse my lips and be happy for my husband. Though, if he runs this half-marathon that we signed up for cold turkey, that'll really be something.

This week, my other son turned one. We ditched the bottle. Yep, in true family fashion, cold turkey. And he hasn't looked back since. We've eaten all sorts of things and had some really yummy snacks and he's taken to the cup like nothing I've ever seen before. He's a cold turkey type of guy, too, apparently. And really, I only did it this way because I did the same thing with my first son when he turned one. We stopped the bottle and switched to a cup and meals with no problem whatsoever. No weaning, no nothing. Cold turkey.

My parents smoked since they were 13. They quit a while back, but not until having at least 20 years of smoking under their belt. And yep. Cold turkey.

What is it with cold turkey? Is it a guy thing? Girls hold onto things, people, issues, ideas, security, etc... and guys, well, they're just not as emotionally attached? Maybe that's not the right way to put it. My husband's emotionally attached to things. However, when he makes a decision to do something, he just does it and doesn't look back. He doesn't cry over it or mull over it or beat himself up over it or torture himself, he just does it like (as Seinfeld says) ripping off a bandaid. Right off!

Is that what it is? Because I have to say, I am the obvious emotional one of this relationship. I mourn over age, weight, decisions, I overthink things completely, and in fact, it's a complete understatement for me to say I beat myself up over things.

Maybe it's not a gender thing because I spend a lot of time trying different ways to do things only to end up going back to the old standby of cold turkey myself. Even my boobs had a mind of their own. They decided they didn't really want to wean from nursing, they were just done. And so was my son. He didn't seem to care one bit. They, in a collectiveness, said, "OK we're done" and that was that.

Why cold turkey seems to work is beyond me. Maybe it's that we (I) push ourselves (myself) to that last straw where we just decide it's what we're doing and that's that. And that gits er done. Could that be it? I'm overthinking things again.

5 comments:

ok...that's what we are going to do today!!! Hey, I have to do laundry anyway right? We have been trying for 6 months to potty train and she has had an aha moment this week in telling me she has to go BEFORE she goes 3 times!!! Good luck!!

We were doing the pull-ups with our son and we were pretty lazy about it, figuring when he was really ready he'd let us know. Then his preshcool informed me his tuition dropped by like $7/day once he was fully potty trained, so we got busy! It was in the summer, thankfully, and so one weekend we just had him run around stark nekkid in the house. We were cleaning the basement and not paying much attention when we heard the sound of peepee hitting the toilet water. He hasn't looked back since!